Jason and his two companions did not embark on their journey back to their family until two months after purchasing the Floating Shadow.
Jason has made breakthroughs in the Edicts of Death and Edicts of Destruction.
Jason hadn't participated when Landon and Kasabu were choosing the Floating Shadow, but after returning to the mansion, Jason made a special trip through it and was surprised to find that his understanding of death had improved considerably.
According to the method described in the cultivation book seized in the Netherworld, Jason has now reached the "node" of the "path" he has taken. He can choose a new "path" or return to the "node" where he first started and try to comprehend another path.
"We've already disguised ourselves, no one should be able to tell, right?" Kasabu now looked like a pretty boy.
Jason, whose face had been reshaped to a square jaw, said, "If they were deliberately trying to sabotage us, this level of concealment wouldn't have been enough to hide it."
The three of them had spent a lot of Nether Stone in the city beforehand. Fearing that someone with ulterior motives might target them, they specially changed their appearance and circled around several times before leaving the city to make sure no one was following them.
"Thinking about it now, even if I went back to the family, there wouldn't be anything to do. Maybe it would be better to stay in the city and take on some Fiend quests in the surrounding area," Jason said telepathically.
The Rhine Clan's territory is very remote, and the three of them are already quite formidable in that area. They also regularly take other family members out for training. If Jason had the Coiling Dragon Ring and the Sovereign’s Might as trump cards like Linley, he might actually leave the family and venture into the Netherworld on his own.
Unfortunately, he's not Linley. As a Midgod, Jason's chances of dying from randomly accepting Fiend missions are quite high. For now, relying on the long-term benefits of the Rhine Clan is more valuable to Jason —once the family grows stronger, teaming up with trustworthy family members to venture into the Netherworld will be much safer.
"We'll see when Linley is born. If Linley isn't born because of me, I'll have to make other plans for my other clones." Jason's clones on the Yulan Continent have recently seen a significant increase in strength.
Perhaps the Four Overgods sensed that Jason, this transmigrator, was complaining about how boring life was, so Jason sent bandits to appear before him.
The good news is that there are only seven bandits; the bad news is that there are three Highgod.
"Can I surrender?" That was Jason's first thought.
The location where the bandits ambushed them was already quite far from Falling Rain City. Jason had already flown there for five days, and it was even farther from the Rhine Clan, probably another month or so away.
Landon suddenly spoke up, "The Midgod on the far left, you were one of the demons who participated in the Fiend assessment with us before."
The leading Highgod opposite them was actually a woman. She said casually, "Don't struggle. They are all my Soul Seed servants. I heard that you two seem to be stronger than my Midgod servants. Hand over your wealth obediently, and I'll consider letting you replace them."
The four Midgod and two Highgod opposite them remained calm.
Jason and his two companions secretly sensed something was wrong.
If they were facing three high -Highgod who were not skilled in dealing with souls, plus the Deathgod Golem in their hands, they might still have a chance to fight and retreat. If they were lucky enough to enter the territory of a nearby tribe, they might be able to escape alive. However, Highgod who specializes in the Edicts of Death could probably defeat them in just a few moves.
"Our chieftain is on his way," Landon said calmly.
"I'll count to three!" the opposing leader said with a disdainful look.
"One~~"
"Has the chieftain really arrived?" Kasabu asked in despair.
"We'll split up and run in a bit, whoever can finish is one less." Landon didn't answer.
"Two~~"
Jason transmitted his thoughts telepathically. "If we get chased, just throw out the Interspatial Ring. It's okay, money can be earned back."
"Superior!"
Two Highgod and four Midgod charged forward.
The three turned and ran, releasing the Deathgod Golem as they went.
The two Highgod were clearly not very powerful. Jason could tell from their first encounter with the Deathgod Golem that they were only Four Star Fiend, and their level was relatively low. The Deathgod Golem could probably hold out for a while, but as for the four Midgod, their speed was even slower than Jason's.
Unfortunately, the female leader was clearly very powerful.
A black figure rushed over. Kasabu's Deathgod Golem met it head-on, but was struck by a Death Divine Power. The Divine Power, like a leech, quickly melted a large gash in the Deathgod Golem's chest, revealing its core.
The female Highgod thrust out a slender, short spear, causing the core of the Deathgod Golem to explode instantly.
"Useless trash, go after them!" the female leader snapped.
Two Highgod and four Midgod bypassed the Deathgod Golem and pursued the three who had fled separately; while the female leader dealt with the remaining two Deathgod Golem.
Clearly, this Highgod, who specializes in the Edicts of Death, is powerful but not adept at speed.
Jason had only been escaping for about ten minutes when a Wind Blade made of Wind Divine Power flew out from behind him.
He barely dodged to the side, only to find a Highgod less than a hundred meters away. Even with the immense gravity of the Netherworld, this distance was not too far.
He deeply regretted selling a Deathgod Golem.
In Jason's soul connection, he saw that his Deathgod Golem had already had a shoulder torn off. Knowing that he could no longer resist, he directly used a sonic boom to briefly block the opponent's strongest leader before diving towards the ground—he was going to put up a final stand.
The Wind Element- Highgod looked disdainful and didn't rush to take down Jason, but instead wanted to toy with him.
When they don't receive direct commands from their master, they retain a sliver of their own self, but this self cannot violate the rules set by the controller. They can only find some "fun" within the constraints.
As the spear hurtled towards him, Jason accelerated to his maximum speed, his entire body covered in dragon scale armor—the leather armor he had bought earlier, though of good quality, hadn't yet been nurtured with Divine Power.
The dragon scale armor barely blocked the spear tip, deflecting the attack. Jason withstood the immense force transmitted through the armor and swung his sword back at the opponent's face.
The opponent turned his head to avoid it, as if a fighting master on stage was showing off his superb skills, letting the blade glide past his lips without splattering a drop of blood.
Jason sped off and crashed into a grove of trees.
The grove of trees in the Netherworld was as large as a duchy on the Yulan Continent.
The Saint-level within the forest, as well as the Saint-level below it, were all startled and flew away.
Jason saw a cave in his field of vision. His divine sense couldn't penetrate that far, but facing Wind Element Highgod who excelled in speed, he had no choice but to take a gamble.
They plunged into the cave. Fortunately, the cave was very deep, and they could vaguely see a metallic sheen on the side walls, which should be some kind of low-grade metal—a low-grade metal from the Netherworld.
Jason continued to attack the surrounding walls, shaking off a lot of sand and gravel mixed with metal, hindering the advance of the enemies behind him.
However, there was no exit at the other end of the cave.
Jason stood with his back against the cave wall, knife in hand.
The handsome man manipulated the gale to sweep away all the sand and gravel that were blocking his way.
Jason saw that the other party had grown a pair of blue dragon horns that he had never seen before, his eyes had turned into cold vertical pupils, and the scales on the back of his hands shimmered with light.
This Deity-level being's true form is a giant dragon.
Perhaps it was because the years he had been controlled by the Soul Seed were too unbearable, or perhaps it was because the flying sand and gravel had annoyed him. In any case, the other party showed some dragon characteristics, seemingly wanting to torture his prey.
The spear shot out like a dragon, hurtling towards Jason.
"They didn't intend to kill me in one strike." Seeing where the spear was about to land, Jason easily confirmed his opponent's intentions. He then dodged the attack and charged forward, trying to close the distance.
The spear, seemingly still connected to its opponent, returned with the same force, striking directly at Jason's back.
Jason had no choice but to scramble away.
"Profound Mysteries? Or is it the power of that Divine Artifact?" Although Jason knew the nine Profound Mysteries of the Wind Element, he was completely ignorant of Profound Mysteries application and could not make a judgment.
The opponent smiled slyly and threw the spear again, like a child who had finally caught an interesting toy.
Jason, having learned the method, flew close to the ground and rapidly approached. Seeing the spear attacking from behind, he directly lifted a piece of hard ore from the ground, slightly slowing down the spear.
Just as the longsword was about to strike its opponent, the opponent firmly gripped the blade, and was also wearing a Divine Artifact glove.
The spear came at him again, Jason abandoned his longsword and dodged to the side.
The handsome man smiled dismissively and put Jason's longsword back into his Interspatial Ring.
Jason had no choice but to take out a spare weapon—two Highgod Artifact swords, Lightning Element and one of death, that Jason had specifically bought in Falling Rain City as backup.
"This time, attack with full force." Yes, Jason hadn't used his full strength just now; even the Death Clone hadn't exerted its full power.
Since the other party is trying to mock him, Jason has the advantage of striking first before he can completely provoke them or make them realize his threat.
It was no longer possible to test the opponent's true strength. After all, if he were to be hit by that spear and suffer serious injuries, he would completely lose any chance of a comeback.
Jason once again swooped down close to the ground in the same manner.
The opponent's eyes were filled with mockery. He plunged his spear into the ground and then flicked it upwards, sending up a cloud of sand and gravel.
In the instant when the sand and gravel obscured his vision, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on the handsome face of the "Dragon Man".
A "golden angel" with wings on its back flashed to the left at a speed far exceeding the previous one, bypassing the obstacle of sand and gravel and slashing down with its sword.
There was no time to retract the spear, so he turned sideways and used his left hand to catch Jason's blade.
The terrifying speed caused a tremendous impact, even making the Highgod stumble.
The Highgod rapidly expanded their domains in an attempt to suppress Jason.
Jason's two clones overlapped their domains, temporarily blocking the opponent's domain. A longsword with death attributes appeared in his left hand, and he slashed out again.
The spear had already returned to reinforce, but Jason neither dodged nor evaded, even abandoning the defense of his dragon scale armor. The spear struck Jason in the waist and sank directly into his soft abdomen.
Fortunately, because of the close distance, Jason wasn't struck by the spear tip with the greatest force, and he wasn't cut in half at the waist.
At the same time, Jason's longsword struck his opponent's head, but unexpectedly, the opponent blocked the blow with his dragon horns—dragon horns are also a weapon.
However, Jason's understanding of the Edicts of Death was enough to affect even the Highgod.
The instant the dragon horn clashed with the longsword, a layer of gray mist enveloped the divine consciousness of the Highgod, causing his soul to momentarily lose focus.
In that instant, Jason released his right-hand longsword, drew a poisoned arrow, and plunged it into the opponent's eye.
"Ah!~~" The pain in both his soul and body caused the other party to temporarily drop his weapon.
Jason stepped forward again, mimicking Kasabu's actions from before, grabbing his opponent and repeatedly stabbing him in the neck, lower back, and wrists with three or four poisoned arrows in each hand.
A figure flew out from behind the other person and quickly flew towards the cave entrance.
That was an avatar of a Lowgod.
With a deafening roar, the Highgod in front of Jason exploded—in the final moment, the opponent chose to self-destruct to buy time for his clone.
The power of Highgod's self-destruction is not unimaginably great, because the power of Deity-level mainly comes from the laws, and self-destruction has no amplification from the laws at all, making it far inferior to an attack that contains the laws.
The opponent was just attacked by the Soul Poison and is completely unable to use normal attacks, so they had no choice but to sacrifice their pawns to save their king.
Jason's body flew out of the dust and crashed into the rock wall.
The explosion, though intense, didn't cause him much harm; it was the bullet that nearly broke him in half.
Without time to treat his injuries, or even to retrieve the lost Divine Artifact and the opponent's Divine Spark, Jason flew towards the cave entrance.
Whether it's to wipe out the enemy or to escape, there's only this cave entrance.
The Soul Seed can sense the positions of both sides. One of the enemy's clones just died tragically; the bandit leader will definitely be arriving soon. Highgod, it will take Jason at least ten minutes to escape the enemy's pursuit.
"Ahhhhh!" A scream sent a chill down Jason's spine.
"You... good-for-nothing." A seductive yet angry voice rang out, and Jason's other half of his heart turned cold.
A giant dragon's body rapidly enlarged at the cave entrance, only to be quickly Corrosion away by a strange Power of Death, leaving only a pair of hard dragon horns and a pool of foul-smelling blood.
Jason quickly retreated and picked up his weapon.
"Not bad, I wasn't as strong as you when I was Midgod." For some reason, the other party's originally angry tone suddenly softened.
"Our Rhine Clan patriarch is a peak Six-Star Fiend. If you kill me, she won't let you off the hook." Jason knew he couldn't intimidate her.
But now he has no cards left to play.
Jason's innate talent, "Heaven’s Will Proxy," allowed his body to recover rapidly.
"Alright, don't be nervous." The other person's tone was alluring. "Your Lightning Element has at least fully integrated two Profound Mysteries, and your Edicts of Death are almost complete. Add to that your divine beast offspring's talent, tsk, if you break through to the Highgod, I might not even be able to beat you. Seriously, you're worth more than my income for 100,000 years!"
"So—" Her captivating eyes gleamed with delight, "Become my slave!"
In her slender, jade-like hand, she had already taken out a gray-black sphere that exuded a strong aura of death— Soul Seed.